Tag Archives: feyisa lelisa

-Sixteen-year-old Mary Cainripped apart the American high school 3,000-meter record at the University of Washington Indoor Preview on Saturday. Cain, who lives in New York but is coached by Alberto Salazar, ran 9:02.10 beating the existing outdoor record by over six seconds. When considering conversions, she also bested all the existing high school records for the 3,200-meter and 2-mile. The record itself isn’t a shock. She already holds the 1,500-meter American high school record and held her own in the 800-meters at the Olympic Trials this past summer. What is surprising is how fast she is running this early in the season.

Assuming that Salazar is using the same cautious and methodical approach that he has taken with Galen Rupp, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume Cain can run much faster. With modest improvements, she would be an immediate contender outdoors in the United States, especially in the 5,000, which currently lacks depth. But before we get too far, let us remember all the phenoms in track and field who ran their best races and times before they reached the drinking age and were never heard from again. Cain appears to be an exception. Her talent surpasses anything we have ever seen in the United States and she has the best distance running coach in the world to provide guidance. Salazar deservedly received much credit for guiding Rupp over a 12-year period from a high school freshman to an Olympic silver medalist. If he can get Cain anywhere close to that level while avoiding the injuries, burnouts and breakdowns that often fell such a talent, it would be an even greater coaching achievement

-A judge found Ashley Gill-Webbguilty of throwing a bottle onto the track before the men’s Olympic 100-meter final. It doesn’t look like jail time is likely but he will have to live with the name “Olympic bottle thrower” the rest of his life.